Throughout the Kingdom of Wei, it was whispered that the old Chancellor Pei possessed peerless skill upon the zither. He was said to have composed a masterpiece famous across the lands, yet few had ever been graced with the opportunity to hear it.
To their surprise, the group found themselves blessed with that very fortune today.
The crisp notes of the zither were like spring water winding around stones, clinking with a crystalline resonance, before suddenly transforming into a silver waterfall plunging headlong down a precipice. The melody rose and fell, shifting with a graceful, lingering elegance. It felt as though a myriad of surging undercurrents were hidden within a pitch-black night—mysterious, tense, and uneasy, harboring an endless, lethal intent. Yet, it simultaneously carried a temptation that made the blood boil, stirring the heartstrings into a restless state, even as one found it impossible to tear their mind away from the sound.
Suddenly, the music shifted. It became like the long, blood-weeping cry of a phoenix—high-pitched and unyielding, brimming with the spirit of battle. The first ray of dawn pierced through the long night as a phoenix, bathed in fire, spread its wings and soared. The flames illuminated a devastated land; the darkness receded, and light arrived. A scene of peace and tranquility seemed to manifest right before their eyes.
It was not until several seconds after Pei Shian struck the final note that the listeners began to stir from their reverie.
"Was that piece 'The Radiant Phoenix,' Uncle?" Xie Yusong’s excitement was difficult to mask, though he maintained his gentle and polite bearing, stopping short of losing his composure.
Pei Yunting’s eyes also betrayed a hint of surprise, though they were mostly filled with a dazed blankness. He had never heard his father play this piece before...
Su Jinzhou noticed the shift in his expression and understood.
"Yes," Pei Shian replied, though his gaze was fixed entirely on Ye Zhao, who sat directly across from him.
Ye Zhao was looking back at him. Under that mutual gaze, Ye Zhao’s expression seemed more like he was spacing out; he looked dazed and slightly confused, as if he were struggling with a thought or lost in reflection.
"The Radiant... Phoenix?" Ye Zhao murmured, his tone thick with doubt.
Pei Shian watched him and asked, "What did you think of?"
His eyes were locked onto Ye Zhao, as if he were unwilling to miss even the slightest flicker of emotion. The intensity of his focus was peculiar.
"I..." Ye Zhao furrowed his brows, his expression utterly perplexed. After a long silence, he spoke with a mix of doubt and uncertainty. "This song feels strangely familiar. It’s as if I’ve heard it somewhere before?"
Few people knew how to play this piece, and even fewer could perform it. Aside from Pei Shian himself, who else could evoke such sincere emotion and the original essence of "The Radiant Phoenix"?
Yet Pei Shian said, "Then think again. Think carefully."
His expression was incredibly earnest as he watched Ye Zhao. After a moment, he asked again, "Do you remember anything?"
Ye Zhao’s face was a mask of conflict, his mind a tangled mess of threads. Seeing this, the other three felt their thoughts stir.
Pei Shian’s words sounded strange—they didn't seem like aimless remarks. Rather, he seemed to be validating Ye Zhao’s words, as if Ye Zhao truly *had* heard him play this piece before.
However, in the end, even Ye Zhao denied the possibility.
"No. Perhaps I’ve confused it with another song. It must be an illusion."
Ye Zhao felt rather embarrassed. When he had heard the stirring, high-energy portion of the piece, a strange sensation had suddenly surged within him, and for a fleeting moment, it had felt familiar.
But now, he could no longer recall that feeling.
The intensity on Pei Shian’s face slowly faded, replaced by a calm serenity that betrayed nothing. Even the illusion that his previous words held a deeper meaning vanished completely. "Would you like to hear it again?"
Ye Zhao saw no reason to refuse. "Sure."
In the face of Ye Zhao, Pei Shian was always exceptionally indulgent, granting almost every request. This was a level of warmth that Pei Yunting, his own son, had never enjoyed.
Pei Yunting sat to the side, his face stiff and cold. He lowered his eyes, refusing to look at the two of them.
However, the second performance never happened. The time for class had arrived, and students began entering the music room in small groups.
Since Pei Shian had taken on the role of an academy instructor, he was naturally diligent and responsible in teaching the students the art of the zither.
With Jiang Ziqi absent lately, Ye Zhao and Xie Yusong had grown closer—at least, that was how it appeared to most.
Watching the two of them sitting side-by-side in the front, whispering to each other in apparent harmony, Su Jinzhou suddenly spoke. "The Duke of Anguo has a close relationship with Lord Tianshu. It is only natural that he would extend that affection to Ye Zhao. Do not take it to heart, Yunting."
Sitting beside him, Pei Yunting withdrew his gaze from Ye Zhao. His voice was low. "Aside from that, what else can I do?"
Su Jinzhou knew Pei Yunting was hurting. He glanced at Pei Shian, who was lecturing at the very front, and sighed inwardly.
The world only knew how excellent the famous Young Master Yunting was. How could they know that he had never received even a shred of regard from his own father?
When Su Jinzhou first discovered this, he had been both surprised and confused. Mostly, he felt a sense of regret and pity for his friend.
"Indeed, there is nothing to be done. People in this world are always biased. They lean toward what they love and what they seek, often without reason..."
No matter how excellent Pei Yunting was, he could not compare to the child of someone his father valued, simply because of that one identity...
Pei Yunting turned his head to look at him. "You seem to have deep insight into this?"
Su Jinzhou smiled, projecting an air of calm indifference. "Because I have experienced it as well, so I can empathize to some extent. Actually, the Duke of Anguo treats you well enough. If you can learn not to care about his attitude, you won't have anything to be sad about."
At least, compared to him, Pei Yunting was much luckier. The Duke of Anguo merely ignored him or looked past him.
Whereas he...
As if stung by those last words, Pei Yunting turned his face away. He remained cold and aloof, but a ripple of emotion seemed to flicker in his eyes. "I have nothing to be sad about."
He had allowed himself a moment of vulnerability, but he quickly regained the powerful, icy exterior he showed to the world.
Su Jinzhou did not expose his facade. Instead, he changed the subject. "Weren't you always curious why Xie Yusong and I had a falling out?"
"Why?"
Before Pei Yunting had left the capital for his travels, the three of them had been great friends. But upon his return, everything had changed. Pei Yunting had asked about the reason for their break, but both parties had been vague, and he had never understood the cause.
"In your eyes, what kind of person is Xie Yusong?"
Faced with this question, Pei Yunting answered almost without thinking: "Gentle as jade, a man of integrity."
He summarized the man in eight short characters. Su Jinzhou let out a sharp laugh, his eyes flashing with cold mockery. "In my eyes, he is also a gentleman—a pseudo-gentleman."
"..." Pei Yunting fell silent for a brief moment.
Then he heard Su Jinzhou ask, "You only know how he acts in front of you. Do you know what he is like behind people's backs?"
Pei Yunting felt there might be some misunderstanding involved. "Surely you have misjudged something."
"Misjudged?" Su Jinzhou couldn't help but laugh. "I saw him tear off that skin with my own eyes, revealing that hideous face. Do you know what he was like then...!"
Su Jinzhou’s words suddenly caught in his throat, his face filled with an unmaskable disgust.
He frowned and let out a breath. "Forget it... there’s nothing worth saying. In short, be careful around him. Of course, I am now under Prince Rong’s command, which makes us enemies. If you don't believe me, it doesn't matter."
Pei Yunting snapped back to reality. "I won't. I know your character."
Even if Su Jinzhou served Prince Rong now, to Pei Yunting, he was always a friend.
But Xie Yusong was also his friend.
Pei Yunting glanced at the man not far away, who was smiling with polite warmth, and suppressed the complex thoughts in his eyes. "Yusong and I grew up together. He has never changed. This 'pseudo-gentleman' you speak of—what exactly happened?"
Su Jinzhou fell silent and did not speak.
"You cannot tell me directly?" he asked again.
The hidden scar in the depths of Su Jinzhou’s heart seemed to rip open once more, fresh blood flowing out to remind him that the wound had never healed.
After a few heartbeats of silence, Su Jinzhou uttered two words: "I cannot."
"If you asked him the reason, would he dare to tell you directly?" His eyes were cold as he answered his own question. "He wouldn't dare. Because he is afraid. He is afraid of having that noble, bright facade stripped away to reveal the cold-blooded, selfish, and hypocritical truth inside."
Pei Yunting frowned.
Su Jinzhou knew what he was thinking. "I know you don't believe me, but remember what I said: be careful."
He offered a reminder. "Have you ever seen anyone around Xie Yusong who is of no use to him? Those he befriends, those he helps, those he accompanies, those he knows... which one of them doesn't have something he can exploit?"
"Friends come and go, but only the heart knows the truth. How do you know who in his heart is a friend and who is merely an object to be used? Just look at Ye Zhao now..."
As soon as those words left his mouth, Pei Yunting gave a low shout. "Jinzhou!"
Seeing Pei Yunting’s disapproval, Su Jinzhou gave a nonchalant smile and returned to his cold, detached manner.
Pei Yunting sighed. "I knew the two of you were at odds, but I never imagined the misunderstanding had grown so deep."
Su Jinzhou did not respond, acting as if he hadn't heard. Pei Yunting continued, "Why don't the three of us find a time to have a proper talk?"
"..."
Su Jinzhou paused, then immediately reacted with revulsion. "We’ve long had nothing left to say. What is there to talk about?"
Seeing that Pei Yunting wouldn't give up and wanted to keep persuading him, Su Jinzhou said quietly, "Yunting, Xie Yusong doesn't want to talk about what happened back then, and I don't want to mention it again. It isn't a glorious matter for him, and for me..."
"It is better left in the past," he said, sounding as if he were relieved. This only left Pei Yunting more confused. He couldn't fathom what could have caused such a rift, to the point where even the memory left his friend looking so somber and speechless.
Though he was curious and wished to resolve the misunderstanding between them, if even mentioning it was so painful, Pei Yunting had to reconsider. He said, "I understand."
Because they were sitting in a corner, their conversation did not attract the attention of others.
Xie Yusong, however, seemed to sense something. He glanced back toward them before unobtrusively withdrawing his gaze.
But soon, his friendship with Ye Zhao would face a massive test.
